18 Dec slow-cooked pork chilli

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to put my hands up and say that my slow-cooked pork chilli isn’t exactly a speedy supper. Sure, it takes less than half an hour to prepare but it does need a couple of hours to cook. But it is one of my absolute favourite things to have on the hob at this time of year and I just had to share my recipe with you. When I have a large group of friends over for a pre-Christmas gathering, this is usually what they’re fed with some sweet potato fries on the side.

slow-cooked pork chilli

Serves 6 to 8

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

900g pork shoulder, cut into chunks

400g braising beef, cut into chunks

1 onion

1 red pepper

2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of dried chilli flakes

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

2 tins of tomatoes

500ml beef stock

1 teaspoon of salt

Half a teaspoon of pepper

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 x 400g of kidney beans

Sour cream, to serve

Grated cheddar cheese, to serve

Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Start by heating the vegetable oil in a large pot over a medium heat. Brown the pork and the beef chunks in batches. This will take about 7 minutes per batch, and you should be able to do the lot in two batches.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Peel and finely dice the onion and garlic. De-seed and finely slice the red pepper.

3. Once browned, set aside the meat and discard any excess water in the pot. Heat a little more vegetable oil in the pan over a medium heat. Fry the onion and red peppers for 5 minutes before adding the garlic, frying for a further 3 minutes. Return the meat to the pot. Add the dried chilli flakes, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper and mix well. Add the tinned tomatoes, beef stock, salt, pepper and sugar. Mix everything well and bring to a simmer. Bubble for 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender and shreds easily.

4. Once the meat is ready, drain the kidney beans and add to the chilli, heating through. Serve the chilli with dollops of sour cream, some grated cheddar cheese, and a sprinkling of fresh coriander leaves on top.

This recipe first appeared in The Irish Independent on December 17th